The following references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art. In particular, the following prior art discussion does not relate to what is commonly or well known by the person skilled in the art, but assists in the understanding of the inventive step of the disclosure of which the identification of pertinent prior art proposals is but one part.
Several solutions have been proposed for providing anchor points on a roof or building structure, but these are normally intended for permanent fitment. Such anchor points are made available so that a person working on the roof or other building structure, for example, can attach himself to the anchor point by means of a rope or cable, etc., so that in the event of a fall, he will be constrained from falling off the building.
Thus, conventional height safety anchoring devices for permanent fitment require access to the building support structure such as a batten or rafter. Direct access to the support structure is generally required and involves mounting the height safety anchor prior to the application of the external covering of the roof such as tiles, sarking, sheeting or other cladding so that upon application of the external covering to the support structure, the height safety anchor extends beyond the external covering. The anchor will, of course, need to be suitably flashed to provide a weather-proofed fitment.
On the other hand, if the external covering has already been applied to the building support structure, then at least one unit of the external covering, e.g., a single sheet of covering, must be removed to provide access to the building support structure. Thus, for example, where large units of sheeting form the external covering of the roof, considerable time and effort may have to be expended to remove a single unit to gain access to the roof support structure. Furthermore, there is also a risk that damage to the covering may occur or, more particularly, once it is re-laid, the covering might not properly seal against the elements.
However, the removal of the covering as described above may be impractical or inconvenient. Alternatively, so-called retro-fit systems have been developed that provide a solution for securing a permanent anchor point by using a tool through an access facility, i.e., a relatively small opening, for example, which is then later sealed.
In any event, all of the foregoing solutions have as their basic premise that the anchor is left permanently in place once fitted. This, however, may not be convenient or even desirable having regard to aesthetic considerations and may be unnecessarily wasteful as there may be little need for an anchor point at any time in at least the foreseeable future. Furthermore, anchor points may be desired at various locations, particularly as work progresses on a site, once again adding to the total cost if several permanent anchors are utilized.
To this end, a solution that provides for an anchor point, especially one that could be fitted to a metal roof and removed after any necessary work has been completed, would be advantageous. A useful solution to this problem, therefore, presents itself when one takes into account the typical way in which a metal roof is constructed. Typically, metal cladding is affixed with screws at intervals along a batten, which, in turn, is affixed to rafters in typical fashion. A solution is, therefore, available by simply removing sufficient screws from a section of cladding and affixing a suitable temporary anchor over the cladding by replacing the existing screws using the existing holes through the cladding. Thus, the screws would then pass through suitable holes in the temporary anchor and through the existing holes in the cladding and, thence, into the supporting structure below. Upon completion of the work, the screws can then be removed again, the temporary anchor removed, and the screws replaced once more to hold the cladding in place as it was originally affixed.
In this way, there would be no need to disturb the roof structure or cladding in any way other than to remove some of the existing screws in order to attach the temporary anchor, the screws being replaced after the necessary work on the roof has been completed and the temporary anchor has been removed.
This would provide a simple, useful and economic solution to the problem of providing a temporary anchor point for safety equipment and the like, which could then be readily removed once the work was completed. The temporary anchor could then be used at another location on the same site or taken away altogether and used on another site.
Of course, such a solution would still need to be effective in ensuring adequate safety standards are met, that is to say, the anchor itself, in conjunction with its fitment, would need to meet the necessary safety standards. It should be stressed that anchors that have hitherto been suitable for permanent fitment do not lend themselves to attachment as temporary anchors in this way.
The original disclosure (from which this application claims priority), therefore, advantageously provided a temporary anchor that could not only to meet the desired safety standards, but that was itself designed to be portable so that it could be easily taken from one work site to another.
However, it would also be advantageous to provide a height safety anchor that could be optionally permanently affixed directly to a supporting building structure, e.g., for a metal clad roof, by affixing the anchor through the metal cladding at points already utilized for screwing the cladding to the structure, without otherwise disturbing the metal cladding itself.
It would also be further advantageous if such a height safety anchor system was provided with shock-absorbing means in order to minimize injury from a person utilizing the anchor point in the event of a fall. Further, it would also be desirable if the anchor point were multi-directional to the extent that it worked efficiently no matter from which direction forces might be applied in the event of a fall.
In addition, it would also be advantageous if such an anchor could also be fitted directly to any stable structure, including the supporting structure for a tile roof, albeit with the necessity of removing some tiles or other cladding, etc., to allow access to the underlying structure where applicable.